Fringe Fiction Unlimited discussion

I'm interested in understanding what makes a character seem flat in a book and conversely what can be done to remedy that impression. How do you know when your characters are well developed?

Your use of the term ‘flat’ was on point for me and here’s way. What will make a character seem ‘flat’ is when they are one-dimensional as in all one thing. Nobody is all one thing. No matter how evil, nice, lovely or what have you, there is a smidge of the opposite in there and if there’s not, then the character comes across as flat.

To fix it, the writer, IMHO, has to get to know their character as far as where the light to their darkness comes in.

A character works for me when they could walk into a room and I would know them on sight. I would recognize the way they look, the way the move, the sound of their voice etc.

Pink Avenger wrote: "I hope this isn't related to the review I wrote...um...*guilty look*

I will just address the general topic. It is HIGHLY subjective. Personally I think a character is 'flat' when I cannot connect ..."

It is but no need to feel guilty. It's a question I need to understand to improve my writing. I tend to focus on plot and less on character development so I likely need to find a better balance if I want people to like (and eventually purchase) my writing.

Some people are more plot focused and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Many readers prefer an action driven story. My writing is very much character-based and my problem is the opposite of yours, I tend to put so much into getting my characters across, I sometimes lose sight of the plot and wander aimlessly away. If you want to strengthen your characters, though, I'd say spend time acquainting yourself with them before starting your story. Give them a backstory- even if it's not important to the plot and won't feature in it, it'll help you understand why they are the way they are and why they will react a certain way to what happens to them. Give them hobbies and interests and dislikes. Again, even if they are of no consequence in the story, they'll act to fill out the character.
Think about the effect the events of the plot will have on the character and how the character will believably grow and change because of them. And also the effect interactions/ relationships with other characters will have on them.

Inflate them maybe?

Flat characters come in two varieties for me: Characters that don't add anything to the story and have nothing to say and characters that are important to the story, but they just don't seem like real people.
The characters that are unneeded you can just get rid of. It's not unusual for me to cut a few background characters out of a book on my second round of edits-mostly at the beginning of the book, where I still might not have had an intimate sense of things.
Characters that are essential to the plot and just aren't vibrant you have to handle in a different way.
Sometimes flat characters are just as Lexi said, all evil, all good, all sweet, all sour, whatever. That's not a real person, that's a caricature.
In that situation you need to add something to them. Give them an edge, or maybe soften them a bit. Conflicting emotion is very human.
For my money, though, dialogue is the best way to build character. It's just like real life, we learn about people by what they say. We aren't in their heads, we can't know what they think. And what they do only really tells half the story.
Often what people do is how they really are. What people say is how they'd like to be.
Keep that in mind when writing dialogue. A character saying one thing and acting in a different way is very human.
Dialogue is extremely important for building character.
Here's a bit I'm going to steal from Elmore Leonard (Michigan pride!) by way of Stephen King's On Writing.
Chili Palmer is talking to a producer at the beginning of the book, Be Cool. I don't remember the exact dialogue, but it goes something like this.
"That first one, it was a terrific picture, just terrific. Not only that, it was good too."
King points out that we learn something about the speaker because of the fact that he things the movie was not only "terrific" but good as well.
Good dialogue can make characters, who would otherwise be flat, come alive.

Some characters can be flat, but only if they are necessary for the story, but don't have a big part in it (for example, if someone has a job, the boss might be mentioned but only participate in one or two scenes. Developing that character takes up space, but those scenes might be necessary). I hope that makes sense.

I would highly, highly, highly recommend you read The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life. It made my writing tons better, like most of the writing books I've read. This one explains (in the first three of the eight or so chapters) how to bring characters to life, and ESPECIALLY how your characters give rise to plot. I think it's a great book and will fix any flat characters that need to be fixed.

As far as flat characters, I want to impale them, esp. perfect ones...I'd take pure evil over dull-as-dirt and annoyingly perfect people (maybe I'm just jealous, lol).

PS> I did not spam you. I have no affiliation with the above mentioned book. If I had time, though, I'd read it before or during the drafting of each book I write.

I agree Lena, sometimes "stock" characters can add valuable information to the story, but just don't really have anything to do (but add whatever little thing they add) and they can be flat. Nothing wrong with that.

Lena wrote: "Some characters can be flat, but only if they are necessary for the story, but don't have a big part in it (for example, if someone has a job, the boss might be mentioned but only participate in on..."

I'll read it.

Sounds like an interesting book. I will check it out.

Usually, what makes me consider a character "flat" is when I get the feeling s/he has no life outside of the plot, and/or is too much of one aspect.

Of course, we don't have to be introduced to the character's every friend, hobby, pet, favourite pubs, etc.; but just having the feeling that those exist in the background, already does wonders IMHO. The character has to feel like a real person—and if s/he doesn't, there should be a reason (e.g. s/he's a clone that just got out of the tank yesterday).

Same with one-dimensional characters. Nobody is just kind, or brave, or beautiful, or egoistic, etc. Real people are a jumble of many qualities and flaws, and so should characters.

This question strikes me because if I even felt for a second that one of my characters came off as flat I would simply either re-write them or add more to their storyline and their mannerisms so they were more appealing and lively.

I never have that problem. I have the plot problem, hence my rereading the book mentioned above several times now. My characters tend to wander about doing whatever they want, being very real. The problem is, real life has no plot. So I end up with a great character who does nothing, lol.